Nazi archaeology
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Nazi archaeology was the movement led by various Nazi leaders, such as
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, which encouraged archaeologists and other scholars to look back into Germany's archeological past for research and study in order to strengthen
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
.


Overview

The search for a strong, nationalistic,
Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
-centric national prehistory of Germany began after Germany's loss in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1918, in which during this time, the country faced a severe economic crisis due to the terms brought on by the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
. One of the leading experts who engaged in research and study in search of the German prehistory was German philologist and archeologist
Gustaf Kossinna Gustaf Kossinna (28 September 1858 – 20 December 1931) was a German philologist and archaeologist who was Professor of German Archaeology at the University of Berlin. Along with Carl Schuchhardt he was the most influential German prehistor ...
, with his ideas and theories being picked up and further researched by the Nazi organizations
Amt Rosenberg Amt Rosenberg (ARo, Rosenberg Office) was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. It was established in 1934 under the name of ''Dienststelle Rosenberg'' (''DRbg'', Rosenberg Depar ...
and
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
. With specialization in researching German prehistory as well as Hitler being able to provide funds from the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
into the study of German prehistory, the Nazis were able to add
pseudoarchaeology Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past from outside the archaeological science community, which rejects ...
into its extensive propaganda campaigns of the German people, presenting Germany as the beginnings of civilization. Arnold, Bettina
"The past as propaganda: How Hitler's archaeologists distorted European prehistory to justify racist and territorial goals."
''Archaeology'', July/Aug 1992: 30-37


Tenets

# The ''
Kulturkreis The (roughly, "culture circle" or "cultural field") school was a central idea of the early 20th-century German school of anthropology that sought to redirect the discipline away from the quest for an underlying, universal human nature toward a c ...
'' ("culture circles") theory, originally by German
ethnologists Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...
Fritz Graebner Robert Fritz Graebner (4 March 1877, Berlin – 13 July 1934, Berlin) was a German geographer and ethnologist best known for his development of the theory of ''Kulturkreis'', or culture circle. He was the first theoretician of the ''Vienna School o ...
, but used in studies by
Gustaf Kossinna Gustaf Kossinna (28 September 1858 – 20 December 1931) was a German philologist and archaeologist who was Professor of German Archaeology at the University of Berlin. Along with Carl Schuchhardt he was the most influential German prehistor ...
, stated that recognition of an ethnic region is based on the material culture excavated from an
archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
. This theory was used by the Nazis to justify takeover and occupation of foreign lands such as
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
. One such example of Kulturkreis is shown in Kossinna's article "The
German Ostmark () is the name given to a currency denominated in which was issued by Germany in 1918 for use in a part of the eastern areas under German control at that time, the area. The currency consisted of paper money issued on 4 April 1918 by the in ( ...
", in which Kossinna argued that Poland should be a part of the
German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
, since any lands where an artifact was titled "Germanic" were therefore ancient Germanic territory, in which the artifacts had been "wrongfully stolen" by "barbarians". # The ''Social Diffusion'' Theory, which stated that
cultural diffusion In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication ''Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis'', is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologi ...
occurred through a process whereby influences, ideas and models were passed on by more advanced peoples to the less advanced whom they came into contact with. Examples offered by Kossinna and
Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...
presented a
history of Germany The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gene ...
equivalent to that of the Roman Empire, suggesting that "Germanic people were never destroyers of culture—not like the Romans—and the French in recent times." Combined with Nazi ideology, this theory gave the perfect foundation for the view of Germany as the locomotive of world civilization.Hale, Christopher. ''Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the
Aryan Race The Aryan race is an obsolete historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people of Proto-Indo-European heritage as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern I ...
'', Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003, , p. 200
# ''Weltanschauungswissenschaften'' or "World View Sciences", which stated that culture and science were as one, and carried certain "race-inherent values". The theory suggested that older cultural models, such as sagas, stories and legends, should be not only reincorporated into mainstream culture, but that "the guiding principle in Germany must be to emphasise the high cultural level and the cultural
self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...
of the Germanic people." Examples were the use of Aryan-styled regalia such as the
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
, the use of German legends and runic symbols in the SS, and the ideas proposed by German scientists and the conclusions they made were more accurate than the views of "lesser-race" scientists. # ''Deutsche Reinheit'', or "Pure German Man", argues the idea that Germans were "pure Aryans" who had survived a natural catastrophe and evolved a highly developed culture during their long migration to Germany. This tenet also makes the argument that Greeks were actually Germanic, claiming evidence that certain "Indogermanic" artifacts could be found in Greece. This theory supported the
Kulturkreise The (roughly, "culture circle" or "cultural field") school was a central idea of the early 20th-century German school of anthropology that sought to redirect the discipline away from the quest for an underlying, universal human nature toward a c ...
theory tangentally, in that archeologists who did not approve of the uses of Kulturkreise theory (moderates) could support this theory. # The
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
and its own role as an organization with the purpose of using its archeological "findings" to further support the propaganda machine of the
Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
through the use of previously listed tenets presented and built on by German archeologists such as
Kossinna Kossinna is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. See also * List of towns in Central Province, Sri Lanka External links * Populated places in Central Province, Sri Lanka {{CentralLK-geo-stub ...
.


Organisations and operations


Ahnenerbe

The Ahnenerbe Organisation, formally the ''Deutsches Ahnenerbe – Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte'' (German Ancestry - Research Society for Ancient Intellectual History ) was an organization started as the Research Institute for the Prehistory of Mind and was connected to the SS in 1935 by
Walther Darre Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior". The name was fir ...
. In 1936 it was attached to Hitler's Reichsführer-SS and led by chief of police
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
. By 1937, it was the primary instrument of Nazi archaeology and archaeological propaganda, subsuming smaller organisations like Reinerth's Archaeology Group, and filling its ranks with "investigators". These included people like
Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
, co-founder of the Ahnernerbe, who attempted to prove that
Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
was the cradle of
Western civilization Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
. The main goals of the organisation were: # To study the territory, ideas and achievements of the
Indo-Germanic The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
people # To bring the research findings to life and present them to the German people # To encourage every German to get involved in the organisation. Although the organisation claimed to have a research goal, Himmler had no official training in archaeology and was known for his interest in
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
and the
occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
. Himmler defined the organisation as working towards a prehistory that would prove the pre-eminence of the Germans and their Germanic predecessors since the beginning of civilization. He is quoted as saying, "A nation lives happily in the present and the future so long as it is aware of its past and the greatness of its ancestors."Arnold, Bettina "The past as propaganda: totalitarian archaeology in Nazi Germany." ''Antiquity'' Sept/Dec 1990: 464-478 The Ahnenerbe had difficulty finding scientists to work on the projects and was run largely by scholars from branches of the humanities, which made their research both unskilled and less professional. The group went on to be responsible for
pseudoarchaeology Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past from outside the archaeological science community, which rejects ...
, illustrated by open-air displays honoring Germanic heritage such as the
Externsteine The Externsteine () is a distinctive sandstone rock formation located in the Teutoburg Forest, near the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg in the Lippe district of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The formation is a tor consisting of several ...
, a sandstone formation that was thought to have been a key Germanic cult site. Another example is the Sachsenhain, where 4500
Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
were executed as a punishment for
Widukind Widukind, also known as Wittekind, was a leader of the Saxons and the chief opponent of the Frankish king Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 777 to 785. Charlemagne ultimately prevailed, organized Saxony as a Frankish province, massacred tho ...
's uprising. This site was used as an idealised shrine that was considered sacred to the Germanic people and highlighting their readiness for self-sacrifice. Although there were other sites researched by Ahnernerbe, many of them were censored from the public since they did not have the correct Germanic interpretations. The sites chosen for excavations were limited to those of Germanic superiority such as Erdenburg, where the Ahnenerbe claimed to have clear evidence of the victorious campaign of the
Germani The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
against the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
. Some of the Ahnenerbe's most extravagant activities include: *
Edmund Kiss Edmund Kiss (1886 – 1960) was a German pseudoarchaeologist and author best known for his books about the ancient settlement of Tiwanaku in the Andes mountains of Bolivia. Early life and writings Edmund Kiss was born in Germany in 1886 and late ...
tried to travel to Bolivia in 1928 to study the ruins of temples in the Andes mountains. He claimed their similarity to ancient European construction indicated they were designed by Nordic migrants that had arrived at the area millions of years earlier. * In 1938,
Franz Altheim Franz Altheim (6 October 1898 – 17 October 1976) was a German classical philologist and historian who specialized in the history of classical antiquity. During the 1930s and 1940s, Altheim served the Nazi state as a member of Ahnenerbe, a ...
and his research partner Erika Trautmann requested the Ahnenerbe sponsor their
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
trek to study an internal power struggle of the Roman Empire, which they believed was fought between the Nordic and
Semitic people Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group.Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
and then
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, with the objective of examining rock-art which they concluded was 'proto-Germanic'. * Nazi theorists took a huge interest in the Bayeux Tapestry, going so far as to attempt archaeological digs to find other contemporary artwork that would support their assertion of Germanic might.Kater, Michael, ''Das "Ahnenerbe" der SS 1935–1945. Ein Beitrag zur Kultur-politik des Dritten Reiches'', Munich 1997 * In 1938 the
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
sent an expedition to Tibet with the intention of proving Aryan superiority by confirming the
Vril ''The Coming Race'' is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race''. Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and th ...
theory, which was based on
Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secret ...
's book ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race''. Their study included measuring the skulls of 376 people and comparing native feature to those associated with Aryans, with the expedition's most scientific findings abeing associated with biological findings.


Amt Rosenberg

The Amt Rosenberg was an organization dedicated to finding archeological evidence of the superiority of Germanic culture and of Atlantis, headed by
Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...
, and was given plenty of support by the
Thule Society The Thule Society (; german: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and '' Völkisch'' group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, ...
, with support given back in turn to the society by the organization. A small, better trained team of archaeologists, with more concrete backgrounds and training with archeology, was led by Rosenberg and part of his
Amt Rosenberg Amt Rosenberg (ARo, Rosenberg Office) was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. It was established in 1934 under the name of ''Dienststelle Rosenberg'' (''DRbg'', Rosenberg Depar ...
organization, the '' Reichsbund für Deutsche Vorgeschichte''. It was staffed with archaeologists who signed on to some of Rosenberg's later thinking and theory. Rosenberg saw world history as shaped by the eternal fight between the 'Nordic Atlantic', the pure-blooded Nordic people of
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
, and the 'Semites', or
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish people. To him, only the Germanic people brought culture to the world, while Jews brought evil. He speculated that the people of Germany were survivors from Atlantis who had migrated to Germany, seeing the German people as a distinct race, not only in biological terms, but also in mental phenomena and in their 'will to live'. Hence, he advocated 'race materialism', stating that only the fittest race (Aryans) should survive, a tenet that would later shape the Nazi policy on the
Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
.


Goals of Nazi archaeology


To the public

Nazi archaeology was rarely conducted with an eye to pure research, but was instead used as a propaganda tool designed to both generate nationalistic pride in the German people and provide scientific excuses for hostile takeovers. The German people were drawn to the idea of Germany as the site of the origins of civilization by several means. For one, there were a series of films put out by
Lothar Zotz Lothar is a Danish, Finnish, German, Norwegian, and Swedish masculine given name, while Lotár is a Hungarian masculine given name. Both names are modern forms of the Germanic Chlothar (which is a blended form of ''Hlūdaz'', meaning "fame", an ...
with titles like ''Threatened by the Steam Plough'', ''Germany's Bronze Age'', ''The Flames of Prehistory'' and ''On the Trail of the Eastern Germans'', all of which delved further into the supposed prehistory of the German peoples. These used the appeal of myths, the glory of the ancient past, and German triumph over change to reinforce the idea that German history was something to be proud of, while at the same time taking advantage of the fact that since these periods of history were not well known to the general public and thus could include heavy doses of propaganda. Additionally, public journals gained popularity such as ''Die Kunde'' (The Message) and ''Germanen-Erbe'' (Germanic Heritage). With the journals and films, the German people thought they were being given good visuals and interpretations of different archaeological sites and learning more about 'true' German prehistory. The Nazis also pushed the public to get involved in the search for the past, using the appeal of
patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
as a tool. For example, the membership flyer of one amateur organization of the Amt Rosenberg stated, "Responsibility with respect to our indigenous prehistory must again fill every German with pride!" The goal of the organization was also stated as, "the interpretation and dissemination of unclassified knowledge regarding the history and cultural achievements of our northern Germanic ancestors on German and foreign soil." Along with appealing to public patriotism, there were open-air museums that reconstructed
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
and
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
lake settlements at Unteruhldingen. These public museums gained immense popularity among the general public, and pushed the people to believe in and search for their Germanic past. All of these pieces put together would create a solid foundation of Germanic pride in the German people that was used to reinforce the nationalistic, fascist message Adolf Hitler was crafting with his speeches, open-air meetings, and public image.Heim, Susanne. ''Autarkie und Ostexpansion. Pflanzenzucht und Agrarforschung im Nationalsozialismus''. 2002


To archaeologists

Prior to the formation of the Ahnenerbe, there was little funding for or interest in Germanic archaeology. This allowed for the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
to easily rouse interest in the subject among the general public, which in turn made it easier to push their ethnocentric views onto the uninformed public. Another side effect of this sudden support was felt in some scholarly circles, since many German scholars who specialized in archaeology had long been envious of the advancements in archaeology their European neighbors had made during their excavations in the Middle East. With the sudden boom in interest, the scholars were finally able to put their knowledge to work. Because of Hitler, many changes occurred; funds were made available for scholars to make great advancements beyond their neighboring countries. Under Nazi rule, archaeology went from having one chair in prehistory in Marburg in 1933 to having nine chairs in the Reich in 1935. Once archaeology started gaining popularity, scholars were able to partake in much grander projects, such as the excavation of castles, old ruins, and bring back pieces for display in museums. One specific example of these changes was that the ''
Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum The Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM), Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology, is headquartered in Mainz. It is supported by the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany and its States of Germany, states and is a member of the Gottfried W ...
'' (Romano-Germanic Central Museum) in
Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
, which, in 1939, became for a time the ''Zentralmuseum für deutsche Vor- und Frühgeschichte'' (Central museum for German pre- and early history). (Note the difference between the original "Römisch-Germanisch" which denotes a historical period, and "deutsche", implying a continuous history of a united group of people. "Anglo-Saxon" and "English" would be rough analogies.) In their enthusiasm for the Nazi regime's support of archaeology, many German archaeologists became pawns and puppets of the real goals behind the movement. They answered to the requests of the
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
, and not always in the interests of true archaeology.


The Search for Atlantis

In their search to prove the superiority of the
Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
race, the Nazi party began searching the world for archeological evidence that would prove to the rest of the "inferior" world that the German people were not only a superior race, but that they transcended traditional human standards. One archeological exploit made popular by the movie ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' was the search for the
Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...
. Another, perhaps less known, exploit was their attempt to discover the lost island of
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
. This project, originally headed by
Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
and later taken over by
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, was a search that lasted for nearly the entire reign of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler's regime. Wirth did not aspire to the widely held belief that Atlantis was located in the Mediterranean, but rather that it was located somewhere in the North Atlantic region. In Wirth's depiction, Atlantis was a civilization that reached its height approximately 25,000 years before the modern era and was the birthplace of the Nordic race that was destined to control and influence the development of mankind and to act as their sovereign masters, with the Nordic race Wirth mentioned being the Aryan race. Soon after his rise to popularity, some members of the highest echelons in Nazi Germany began to acknowledge the supposed "truth" behind his bizarre
pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
ideas. In the year 1935, Heinrich Himmler began a joint effort with Wirth to establish the
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
, an elite team of
Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...
(SS)
archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...
s,
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
s, and
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
s gathered to search sacred archeological sites around the globe for evidence that the Aryans of Atlantis were not a mere work of Nazi
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
. Himmler desperately wanted to prove that their existence was real and verifiable. As head of the SS, Himmler was enthralled with the prospect of archeological proof to verify and confirm Nazi beliefs. Himmler was also one of the staunchest supporters of archeological discovery by the Nazi party, especially those made within the realm of pre-historic Germany. After the Ahnenerbe was formed, they began work on excavation and research into ancient archeological sites, paying especially close attention to those that were believed to be of sacred significance to their ancestors. One particularly significant excavation took place under the command of Nazi archaeologist Vilhelm Toit. This excavation took place at the
Externsteine The Externsteine () is a distinctive sandstone rock formation located in the Teutoburg Forest, near the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg in the Lippe district of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The formation is a tor consisting of several ...
. The goal of this excursion to the Externsteine was to find evidence that it had been used for sacred ritualistic practices by the ancient Aryan people of Germany thousands of years before it became a significant site to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. During the search for ancient Aryan purity, the Externsteine became a symbol to the people of Nazi Germany; a symbol of pure German blood and ancestry. As the Externsteine excavations continued, they became Himmler's personal pet project. Shortly after the Externsteine was sealed off to the public for archeological research, rumors began to surface that the people of Germany were not, in fact, of Aryan descent. Faced with this, Himmler began to send teams of his Ahnenerbe researchers across the world to hunt for proof that such claims were false, although he and his expeditions ultimately failed to provide such further evidence.


''Haus Atlantis''

In the city of
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, Germany stands a unique example of German architecture designed by
Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold from ...
and inspired by a fascination with ideas by
Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
that the lost city of
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
was originally inhabited by Germanics, thereby making Germans the oldest known race on earth. " Haus Atlantis" or "
Atlantis House The Atlantis House (german: link=no, Haus Atlantis) on Böttcherstraße in the old town of Bremen in the north of Germany is an interesting example of German architecture in the interwar period. Designed by Bernhard Hoetger, it was completed in ...
" was completed in 1931 and was designed with the sole purpose of studying Atlantis and its relation to the Aryan race. The façade of the building was originally adorned by a carved wooden feature depicting the Nordic God
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
(also referred to as "The Atlantis Survivor")
crucified Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
on the
tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...
. It was destroyed by fire during
WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and was not recreated when the façade was rebuilt in 1954. The architectural masterpiece is composed mostly of glass and steel. Many historians believe that the choice of materials in combination with the interior architecture was intended to represent the Aryan exodus from Atlantis. At the top of the institute there is a room named "The Heaven's Hall.” This room, at the peak of the building, served as a teaching forum for young Nazi archeologists where they could eagerly absorb the teachings of esteemed German figures such as
Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
and
Hans Reinerth Hans Reinerth (13 May 1900, in Bistritz, Austria-Hungary – 13 April 1990, in Unteruhldingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) was a German archaeologist. He was a pioneer of Palynology (pollen analysis) and modern settlement archaeology, but is co ...
, along with their theories of the Germanic presence in Atlantis.


Notable figures


Gustaf Kossinna

The nationalistic theories of
Gustaf Kossinna Gustaf Kossinna (28 September 1858 – 20 December 1931) was a German philologist and archaeologist who was Professor of German Archaeology at the University of Berlin. Along with Carl Schuchhardt he was the most influential German prehistor ...
about the origins and racial superiority of Germanic peoples influenced many aspects of Nazi ideology and politics. He is also considered to be a precursor of Nazi archaeology. Kossinna was trained as a linguist at universities in Göttingen, Leipzig, Berlin, and Strasbourg, and eventually held the chair for Germanic Archeology at the University of Berlin. He laid the groundwork for an ethnocentric German prehistory with one of his theories, the ''
Kulturkreis The (roughly, "culture circle" or "cultural field") school was a central idea of the early 20th-century German school of anthropology that sought to redirect the discipline away from the quest for an underlying, universal human nature toward a c ...
'' theory, being the basis on which the main pillars of Nazi archaeology were founded. Kossinna also published books for a general audience which were useful tools to spread German propaganda and created archaeological expeditions that allowed the Nazis to use Kulturkreis theory as an excuse for territorial expansion. In one of his most popular books, ''Die deutsche Vorgeschichte — eine hervorragend nationale Wissenschaft'' (German Prehistory: a Pre-eminently National Discipline), Kossinna puts forward the idea of an Aryan race, the Germani, superior to all other peoples, and shows Germany as the key to an unwritten history. The book was used to inspire the German people into the belifs of the Nazi Party regarding the origins and history of the German people, with the dedication in the beginning reading, "To the German people, as a building block in the reconstruction of the externally as well as internally disintegrated fatherland." Kossinna died in 1931, 13 months before Hitler seized power.


Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...
was a Nazi Party ideologist who supported archeological excavations and the study of provincial Roman Germany. He stated as a summary of his research and thoughts that "An individual to whom the tradition of his people and the honor of his people is not a supreme value, has forfeited the right to be protected by that people." Rosenberg's perspective on German prehistory led mainly to racist distortion of data which did not directly apply to the Germanic people. Rosenberg's book ''Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts'' (
The Myth of the Twentieth Century ''The Myth of the Twentieth Century'' (german: Der Mythus des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts) is a 1930 book by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the principal ideologues of the Nazi Party and editor of the Nazi paper '' Völkischer Beobachter''. The titular ...
) gave support to the concept of a new
Germanic religion Germanic religion may refer to: * Germanic paganism * Germanic Christianity * Heathenry (new religious movement) * Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe Since its emergence in the 1970s, Neopaganism (') in German-speaking Europe has diversified ...
. Rosenberg's theory, Weltanschauungswissenschaften, was implicit in the idea that Germany had the right to takeover other nations - or even exterminate them - since
German culture The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called ''Das Land der Dichter und Denker'' (the country of poets and thinkers). German cultu ...
was "superior" to the culture of other groups. He also tried to prove that the Nordic-Aryans originated on a lost landmass identified with
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
, and that Jesus was not a Jew but instead an Aryan
Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...
.


Hans Reinerth

Hans Reinerth Hans Reinerth (13 May 1900, in Bistritz, Austria-Hungary – 13 April 1990, in Unteruhldingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) was a German archaeologist. He was a pioneer of Palynology (pollen analysis) and modern settlement archaeology, but is co ...
was the main archaeologist Rosenberg worked with. Reinerth is famous for his excavations at the
Federsee Federsee is a lake located just north of Bad Buchau in the region of Upper Swabia in Southern Germany. It is surrounded by moorland, partially overgrown with reeds. With a size of 33 km2 (8,155 acres), the area is one of the largest, groundw ...
and he saw the Nazi Party as a tool he could use to work his way up in society. This is just what occurred, and in 1934 Rosenberg appointed him to the position of "Reich Deputy of German Prehistory". This made him the spokesman for the "purification and Germanisation of the German prehistory". Reinerth was an adherent of Hitler's theory of German racial purity. Though this theory never really came into full effect, Reinerth pushed it heavily as Reich Deputy, and encouraged archaeological exploration. His archaeological group, along with the Ahnenerbe organization, was used to the Nazis' full advantage since it was a more "professional" group. Härke, Heinrich. ''Archaeology, Ideology, and Society: The German Experience''. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2002


Herman Wirth

Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minnes ...
was a Dutch-German
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
who co-founded the SS organization called
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
before being pushed out of the organization by
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
. Wirth began his career as a German soldier in 1914, when he volunteered for service in the German Army and monitored
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
separatists in German-occupied
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. In 1917, after only two years of military service, he was decorated and dismissed from service. He was later appointed as a professor and researcher by
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
and remained in the position until the fall of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Wirth believed that civilization was an affliction that could only be cured by a simpler way of life. Later in life, during the reign of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, Wirth was the primary proponent for the idea that the German people descended from Atlantis, more specifically that they descended from Aryan Atlanteans who made a mass exodus from Atlantis at some point. While Wirth was a Nazi archaeologist, unlike others who worked with the Nazi Party, he was not well-liked by most of the Nazi Party and received criticism from such intellectuals as
Bolko von Richthofen Bolko von Richthofen (September 13, 1899 – March 18, 1983) was a German archaeologist and a distant relative of the family of Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". He is sometimes confused with his distant cousin and namesake, Karl Bolko von ...
,
Arthur Hübner Arthur Hübner (17 September 1885, Neudamm – 9 March 1937, Berlin) was a German philologist. He specialized in research of German literature from the Middle Ages (folk songs and folk tales, study of dialects, etc.). From 1904 to 1909, he st ...
, and even
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
himself, who denounced the institute known as Haus Atlantis in Bremen's ''
Böttcherstraße Böttcherstraße is a street in the historic centre of Bremen, Germany. Only about 100 m (330 ft) long, it is famous for its unusual architecture and ranks among the city's main cultural landmarks and visitor attractions. Most of its bui ...
'' in his 1936 speech at the
Reichsparteitag The Nuremberg Rallies (officially ', meaning ''Reich Party Congress'') refer to a series of celebratory events coordinated by the Nazi Party in Germany. The first rally held took place in 1923. This rally was not particularly large or impactful; ...
. This disgraceful career led Wirth to be mostly seen as a crank among the Nazi Party. However, Wirth made claims that what may have been his crowning achievement was never published. In 1979 Wirth was interviewed by Chilean neo-Nazi
Miguel Serrano Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano (10 September 1917 – 28 February 2009), was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he lat ...
. In this interview, Wirth proclaimed that his ''magnum opus'',
Palestinabuch The Palestinabuch (''Book of Palestine''), also Palestina Buch, Palästinabuch or Palästina Buch, is an allegedly lost manuscript by the German-Dutch historian and antisemite Herman Wirth (1885–1981), founder of the German Ahnenerbe, which its ...
had been stolen. While there are indications that Wirth may have actually worked on this book, there is no solid evidence to support his claims. Whether the book actually existed or not, Wirth would never see it published, as he died in 1981 in Kusel, Germany. To this day, however, there are still many pseudoarchaeologists out there who seek to find the supposed lost final book of this once-famous Nazi Atlantis truther.


Other Nazi archaeologists

* Erika Trautmann *
Yrjö von Grönhagen Yrjö von Grönhagen (3 October 1911 in Saint Petersburg – 17 October 2003 in HelsinkiYrjö ...
* Assien Bohmers * Hans-Jürgen Eggers *
Herbert Jankuhn Herbert Jankuhn (8 August 1905 – 30 April 1990) was a German archaeologist of Prussian Lithuanian heritage who specialized in the archaeology of Germanic peoples. He is best known for his excavations at the Viking Age site of Hedeby, and for h ...
*
Gero von Merhart Gero Merhart von Bernegg (17 October 1886 in Bregenz – 4 March 1959) was a German archaeologist. Although he worked at the same time when German nationalism and Nazi archaeology was dominant in Germany, he was not a "Nazi archaeologist". He cam ...
* Gotthard Neumann *
Gustav Schwantes Martin Heinrich Gustav Schwantes (18 September 1881 – 1960) was a German archaeologist and botanist specialist of Aizoaceae (Mesembryanthemaceae). Life and work Schwantes was born in Bleckede and died in Hamburg. The Duvensee paddle is the pr ...
*
Ernst Sprockhoff Ernst Sprockhoff (6 August 1892 – 1 October 1967) was a German prehistorian and inventor of the Sprockhoff numbering system for megalithic monuments in Germany. Life Sprockhoff was born on 6 August 1892 in Berlin. He started as a teacher before ...
*
Ernst Wahle Ernst Wahle (March 25, 1889, Magdeburg – January 21, 1981) was a German archaeologist. He taught at Heidelberg University. In 1937 he joined the Nazi Party. Literary works * Die Besiedelung Südwestdeutschlands in vorrömischer Zeit nach ihr ...
*
Wilhelm Unverzagt Wilhelm Unverzagt (21 May 1892 – 17 March 1971) was a German prehistorian and archaeologist. Education and First World War Born in Wiesbaden, Rhenish Hesse, Unverzagt studied classical philology, archaeology, and geography at the universities ...
* Joachim Werner * Hans Zeiß * Werner Radig * Albert Funk *
Ludwig Kohl-Larsen Ludwig Kohl-Larsen (born ''Ludwig Kohl''; 5 April 1884 in Landau in der Pfalz – 12 November 1969 in Bodensee) was a German physician, amateur anthropologist, and explorer. Biography In 1911, he traveled as ship's doctor with Wilhelm Filchner ...


See also

*
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation o ...
*
Nationalism and archaeology Nationalism and archaeology have been closely related since at least the nineteenth century. Nationalist ideologies frequently employ results of archaeology and ancient history as propaganda, often significantly distorting them to fit their aims, c ...
*
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
*
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience This is a list of topics that have, either currently or in the past, been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers. Detailed discussion of these topics may be found on their main pages. These characterizations were made in the ...


References


External links


Archaeological Organisations


by
Heather Pringle Heather Pringle may refer to: * Heather L. Pringle, United States Air Force general * Heather Pringle (writer) Heather Pringle is a Canadian freelance science writer who mostly writes about archaeology. Before becoming a writer, Pringle worked as a ...
in ''
Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
'', Volume 59, Number 2, March/April 2006.
A Nordic civilisation on the lost continent of Atlantis
in
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
, May 3, 2006. {{Pseudoscience Science in Nazi Germany Nazi SS Occultism in Nazism Pseudoarchaeology Archaeology of Germany Nationalism and archaeology